Tash'Tay Drops
by GoldenJedi
Summary: Some things are an acquired taste and Princesses can have strange cravings...
1. Chapter 1

**Tash'Tay Drops**

** Part 1 **

Their love was still new, but newer still was their sharing of a room.

He was sure that Leia's request of a cabin with a double bunk had quickly circulated around the Command ship, by the looks he had caught on his way to their official residence tonight. Once upon a time, he would have bragged to death about it. Last night though, when the Princess and he had walked with their arms around each other's waist – well, his waist and her shoulders, really - from the cafeteria level to their brand new shared quarters, he had barely noticed if they had crossed paths with someone.

Last night, ten seconds after they had closed the hatch, belts and pins and clothes were flying all over the place and later there had only been time to drop asleep from exhaustion. In fact, that had happened the last three nights, at least.

Today he had been deterred by the armament inventory Dodonna had been nagging him about, but it was at last finished. His boots pounded rhythmically on the metal deck as he approached the hatch at the end of the corridor. His room.

Their room.

The concept was still so new he was having difficulties to wrap his mind around it. The _Falcon_ had been his home for over ten years and before, he had never really had a place he could call that way. And he suddenly felt torn, because he had realized that 'home' was now the place where Leia was. The old bucket of bolts was still his kingdom, and he could always share it with her, but it would never be the same.

There was a new addition by the door, next to the opening pad. The little programmable screen had two lines of text on it. "H.R.H. Leia Organa", one of them said. The other was even more disturbing: "Gr. Han Solo", it read. Sweet Corellian stars.

In spite of it all, a lopsided grin spread through his face as he pressed the pad.

"Sweetheart, I'm home," he announced.

* * *

"I'm here," her voice called from the bedroom. Well, not really a bedroom, but more like a separated space cloistered from the entrance by the fresher module.

"Really," he observed innocently, undoing his blaster belt and hanging it on the racket by the hatch. "And what are you exactly doing there, Princess?" His jacket landed over the only chair.

"What do you suppose I'm doing here _on our bed_, General?" She asked sultrily.

His eyebrows shot up and other parts of his anatomy did as well, and he marveled that she could do that to him with just a few words. But he decided to play the game for a few more seconds. "Well, I don't _know_," he said while stepping into the fresher and folding his shirt's sleeves up to wash his hands. "But I can imagine a lot..."

"Then why don't you come out and find out?" Slim arms reached around his torso to place a hairbrush on the shelf over the sink.

"Hey," Han greeted, turning around and capturing her in his embrace.

"Hey," Leia mimicked throatily, stretching on her toes to kiss him.

He flexed his knees to level themselves a little, but after a while he decided that the edge of the basin sinking in his kidneys was not that comfortable. So he simply lifted her up and after two steps, collapsed with her on the bunk. He proceeded then to kiss her with all he had got, which was quite a bit.

Nevertheless he found himself quickly with his back on the mattress, half straddled by Leia who suddenly went very still, inhaling deeply as she lowered her face to his chest.

Her hair was all soft and sparkly ringlets, free at last from the tight coils that had bounded them through the day. The collar of her shirt was open, just one button too many, as if she had started to undress and then changed her mind. Her eyes were closed, her face almost transfixed by a soft absent smile as her fingers played with and then opened his shirt. Again, she breathed deeply. Something half forgotten tugged at the back of his mind, but it was totally erased when she opened her big dark eyes to look at him blushing, slightly embarrassed.

"You think it's nice to con me into bed like this?" He asked smugly.

Leia Organa bit her bottom lip and shrugged. "Well, you were the one who claimed to be nice, General, not me..."

* * *

He was sinking slowly through warm, happy, contented and relaxed waters when Leia asked something he could not quite catch.

"Uh?"

"Have you eaten?" She repeated.

One hazel eye opened enough to peek at her. "Haven't I _eaten_ enough?" He asked innocently.

Against all odds, the naked woman in his bed reddened violently. "That's not what I meant..."

From the pillow up splayed a cheeky half smile. "Gotcha!"

"What!" She screeched indignant, while sneaking a quick hand under the covers.

"No, no, no, no tickling, you know what happened last time..." He menaced waving his finger and taking advantage of his longer arms.

Leia started a squeaking retreat, dragging out all the bedclothes in her haste and knocking out half the objects on the only bed table.

He landed on her, trapping the struggling Princess with the sheets. "Shhh, they're gonna think I'm abusing of you or something..."

A less than royal snort left the bulk and then a heartfelt laugh. That went on, and on, and on. Han Solo felt for Leia's face and uncovered it. "Are you laughing at me?" He asked to the woman trapped under him, which resulted in a renewed explosion of laughter.

"You look funny up there..!"

"Oh, yeah?" He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You went all motherly on me..."

"I did not!"

"You asked me if I was hungry... Now I got TWO mothers, you an' Chewie!"

"I'll better not be your mother, Solo..."

"OK, ok, you're so right," he conceded. "Wifely? You went all wifely on me."

Her face went suddenly serious. "Maybe," she sighed, turning her face from him. "Maybe."

"Hey," he said softly, leaning on his side to follow her. "I love it," he brushed his lips to hers. "I love _you_."

"'Love you too, nerfherder," she agreed, opening herself to him.

"Now," he continued after the long kiss, "can we get up this floor and back in bed? My butt's freezing..."

"We cannot let that happen, can we Han?"

She was doing it again, for kriff sake. He could not win even one mock fight. He used to do it, when they were not together. _Anyway, who wants to win_, he asked rhetorically.

"Let's get this stuff up the floor and us back where we belong, Sweetheart," he said releasing her.

He set himself to redo the bed while Princess Leia lifted the things that littered the carpet.

"I had thirty five pins here, now I can find only thirty one..." She complained. "Didn't any get snagged to the coverlet? Wait, here they are..." She placed the last pins in the tin can and closed it with tender care, putting it away then in a drawer.

"Wait, wait, wait... What have you there?" Han, who had all ready gotten in bed, asked.

"Nothing..."

He scooted closer to her side of the bed, opened the drawer and took out the rounded tin can. There was a bunch of flowers in vivid colors carved on the lid, big letters spelling _Tash'Tay Drops _and smaller ones boasting _Over 500 standard years in Coruscant_.

"Give me that..." She demanded, trying to snatch it out of his hands. He moved it out of her reach.

"It's the same?"

The Princess nodded.

"You kept it..."

She nodded again.

"And the one from Ord Mantell?"

She shook her head. "I had to pack the strictly necessary when we left Hoth and at the time..." She grimaced remembering how angry she had been at him at the time.

He smiled tenderly, brushing the back of his fingers against her cheek. Those were painful memories for both of them. "How did this one get into your sack?"

She lifted her eyes to him and answered honestly. "I didn't do the packing."

He kissed her brow and then steered his attention back to the box. Opening it, he revealed a bunch of pins for her hair and a very distinctive smell reached his nose.

"It still smells like _tay_," he noted. Again, something tugged at the back of his mind but before he could focus on it, the voice of the Princess distracted him.

"Yes."

"I think I have something to add here..." He said leaving the warm of their bed to reach their shared closet. From between the few sets Leia possessed, he extracted his latest spacer's vest, the one that did 'clash' – in Leia's words – with his brand new Alliance uniform. He slipped something out of one of the smallest pockets. "I think these belong here," Han said, dropping two pins into the still opened can.

"Those are mine," she realized. The design was one done exclusively for her back in her days as a Senator in Coruscant. She still owned a few, but she had to replace most of them over the years with ordinary ones. "Where did you find them?"

"The _Falcon_... After Yavin..." He seemed very interested in the coverlet's design. "I was gonna to give them back to you but I kept forgetting it..."

Was that a blush in Han cheeks? Han never blushed, Leia realized. "After Yavin?" She managed to ask. "But that was... Oh..."

"Let's get in bed, I'm tired." He sentenced.

After a few moments, they were comfortably set to fall asleep. "Lights off," he ordered the computer.

There were silent for a few minutes and then the Princess talked softly. "I love you," she said.

"I know," he whispered back, almost asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

"Hey, kid, how was the reconossaince mission?"

Luke Skywalker skipped the last two steps of the ladder and landed on the deck. "Uneventful, thanks the Force..." He shook warmly Han's proffered hand, but both men soon left all pretension of formality and embraced briefly. "I'm supposed to have breakfast with Leia, am I still...?"

"We overslept. She was still dressing when I left... Get her some warm pastries from the cafeteria and she'll kiss your feet..." The ex -smuggler joked. "I'll comm her that you're on your way..."

* * *

Luke knocked on the Princess door a few minutes later feeling less confidant than before on the flight deck. Even if both he and Leia were happy to find out that they were siblings – in spite of whom their father was – things had become awkward after Endor and he was not entirely sure why. It could be so many things. Anakin, the Force, Han, the gossips. It could be any of those, or all of them, but he was determined to face it and start on a clean flimsy with his sister.

"Come in!" Leia's muffled voice called from behind the hatch. He was almost surprised when his palm print granted him access to Han and Leia's first officially shared quarters.

Inside it was tidy, as it was expected of any place the Princess inhabited. The room was also still fairly impersonal, as if the new occupants had not had quite time to imprint their personalities on it. The sound of a caf machine humming softly was the only sign of domestic life in the room but on second view he noticed the stacks of holo and data disks that seemed to follow Leia everywhere. A circuitry board with half its contacts stripped away was the first giveaway of someone else living there.

"I'm here," she called from the other side of the fresher module. Luke shyly complied and stepped further inside.

"Hi," he greeted her.

His sister grunted some answer that had to find its way out her mouth between the pins held by her lips. With precise movements, she took them one by one and inserted them in her braided hair, making the last stray wisps disappear.

It was not the first time Luke had watched her perform this seemingly ordinary task, but it was always an amazing view. His mind flew briefly to those dark days after the first Death Star, when Han and Leia were still measuring each other like expert duelists. The bitter banter and fights, those would come later, but at this point they where still friendly competing about whom had the biggest...ego.

It was his lifeday. Han had rescued him just when he was getting overwhelmed by the memories about his Aunt, his Uncle and his friend Biggs, and dragged him to the Falcon with the excuse of showing him the 'good stuff'. In Han's case it meant basically trying to get him to drink himself under the table and stop making a fool of himself crying for his lost family.

Leia had showed up at some point – they would discover it was her lifeday too only months later - and it was obvious that she had been drinking too, although she seemed to hold it surprisingly well. She did it at least better than him, because for the life of him that he never could quite remember how the bet had come to pass. Han had bet Leia a free smuggling run against one kiss that he could not disassemble his blaster and then put it back together faster than the time she needed to braid her hair without a mirror. To bait him, she had freed the myriad of dark ringlets and lined the pins on the table, fifteen or twenty of them - he was not sure how many because someone had knocked them out of the djaric board with his elbow. He never saw those pilots dive under a table that fast again, not even when the Empire was dropping bombs on them.

Han had played it cool as always and paid up like a gentleman when she beat him square and fair. Luke had always suspected than Han had considered himself well paid anyway. Nobody present would ever forget Leia's white fingers waving and unweaving at amazing speed through her dark curls. Yet it seemed with time that he was the only one uncomfortable with it.

"Luke, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I brought pastries," he smiled, proffering the container he had gotten in the cafeteria.

"Great!" Her grin probably pushed into nova a few stars in the neighborhood. "I've got caf." She darted to the other room and unfolded a small table attached to the panel. From a cabinet below it she extracted two small stools stacked one over the other.

A basic caf service sat on a small tray by the machine and Leia quickly placed it on the table. "The other mug is on the bed table," she said, blushing slightly. Han had taken a fancy for bringing her caf to bed first thing in the morning.

"I'll get it," Luke answered quickly. He stepped into the other compartment and reached for the cup that rested on the small surface attached to the panel by the double bunk. Another object by it called to his attention. Without thinking, he brushed it with his fingertips.

Voices flashed through his mind.

_She would like this – Buy it – It's too expensive..._

Confused, he brought the empty mug to his sister.

They sipped their caf silently. So many things had changed in the last weeks that Luke feared that their friendship could have gotten lost in the shuffle somehow. The easiness that had always characterized their relationship. He decided to take the rancor by its ears.

"Leia? How long have you had that tin box?"

"The flowery one? A few years now..."

"It's beautiful... It looks kind of familiar though..."

"Han gave it to me for my twenty-first lifeday," she confessed blushing. "I was so surprised he knew that I liked those candies..."

Luke Skywalker snorted.

"What?"

"He knew because I told him..."

The Princess arched a brow.

"You don't remember?"

Her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"Delta Base..." Luke clarified. "Alright, somewhere around Delta Base..."

"Oh, gods..." Leia buried her face in her hands and shook her head. "We're never going to live that one down, aren't we?"

"We will... in time..." His words did not seem to lighten Leia's mood. He let go of his caf cup. "Look, _we_ know what happened that night... or _didn't_ happen..."

"Can we not have this conversation, please?" She interrupted.

"We could... if you want to keep fencing the issue for the next twenty years I'm sure you're capable enough. But _I_ don't want to. I want be able to look at my sister in the face."

The Alderaanian grimaced lopsidedly, a gesture Luke was sure she had just acquired from Han. "Ok," she sighed. "Let's talk about it. You go first." She gulped the rest of her cup.

"That day... The guys set... No, that's not right. The guys and _I _set everything so you and I could go out and then I could... romance you." Luke rubbed his flesh hand over his face. "I was supposed to fake a malfunction of the speeder and get us to land on a beach a few klicks from the base... Then we would have waited for a couple of hours while they came for us, watching the sunset... As it went, I was so nervous I flew faster and farther than I intended and when I tried to turn and take the planned route the damned thing didn't take the stress well and broke a stabilizer..."

"That's why we ended crashing in a jungle two hundred klicks from the base and I got a concussion and a headache for the next three days?"

"Yeah... Sorry."

"And I thought you were the nice one."

Luke's face turned crimson but he answered nothing.

"C'mon, keep talking, you seem to need this..." Leia encouraged at last. "I still don't remember telling you about the candies."

"Well, you see... The med team told me on the comm to keep you talking until they arrived, not to let you fall into a coma... And for a while after the crash you were kind of delirious... Somehow you seemed to think I was your father who had just arrived back from Coruscant."

"Oh."

Luke waited for her to add something, but she did not.

"So, that night..." He continued, talking a deep breath. "I decided that it was not right that I tried to force things between us. That whatever it would happen, it would happen. Or not. In a way, I abandoned myself to the Force on the matter that night. And I think the Force has been looking over us since then, keeping us from making a big mistake. Anyway..."

"The Force didn't stop Vader from torturing me," Leia muttered.

The phantom pain of his own torture flashed through Luke's body, his hands clenching and unclenching over the table. He did not dare to look at her.

The Princess stood up and manipulated something beyond his vision field. When she turned back to him, she filled both mugs with hot caf. "I'm sorry," she whispered, grasping his left hand. "I think I understand what you mean..."

"No, you don't," Luke said matter-of-factly. Then a pale smile appeared on his face. "But one day you will."

The dark-haired woman shook her head slowly, a similar smile brightening her face again. "You were going to add something..."

"Yes. I wanted to say... And with this I'll finish and never mention this again," her brother sighed, "that if I hadn't been so naive when I met you I would have known that Han was the man for you and not me..."

Leia Organa swallowed hard.

"Don't get me wrong..." Luke Skywalker brushed his fingers through his hair. "I mean that at home... You had a big family with the Organas, right?" He did no wait for Leia's nod. "I didn't have any close family but my Aunt and Uncle. Aunt Beru had some nieces but they were way older than me... I never knew what one felt for a sister."

He searched for her reaction, but she refused to meet his eyes, so he kept talking. "I was fumbling in the dark... I knew you were special to me, but I didn't know why... Han on the other hand..."

"What about Han?" Now she lifted her eyes to him.

Luke smiled at his sister's renewed interest in the conversation.

"I think Han always knew what he wanted. I have no idea why it took you two so long to figure things out but... Take those candies for example."

"The Tash'Tay Drops?"

"Yes. It was a few weeks before your lifeday – our lifeday – and I was feeling guilty about our crash and all..."

"You definitely should," the Princess remarked regally, but the glint in her eyes betrayed her amusement.

"Well, I went with Han to Abregado-rae to supervise that X-wing parts shipping and we had some time before our lift slot so we went to roam the bazaar by the spaceport... I saw the box in one of the stands and remembered you liked them..."

"And...?" She popped a pastry in her mouth.

"I didn't have enough credits to buy it and Han said he was broke too, so I went back to the _Falcon_ to ask Chewie for a loan... When I came back the box was gone."

"How do you know it's the same one?" She took a second pastry from the package.

Luke gave Leia a knowing look and suddenly her clear laugh filled the room, followed closely by his.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

Han Solo was kind of surprised when an exuberant Leia burst into his office at midday, barely giving the hatch time to close before jumping onto his lap and straddling him, proceeding then to give him a kiss that left him positively breathless and reeling.

He was still struggling between finding the words he needed to tell her that she had just fulfilled one of his many long time fantasies and acting on them when she lowered her mouth to his again, arms still firmly around his neck. There were no words for this so he just acted and answered her kiss with matching passion.

"I wanted to do this all morning," she sighed at last.

"Guess you were really impressed last night," he smirked lopsidedly. "Told you I was a nice guy..."

The Princess tapped a fingernail against her chin. "Nice?" She echoed dubiously. "Not really nice..."

Han raised a brow. "No?"

"No..." She smiled wickedly. "You were incredible!" She latched herself to his lips again.

"And believe it or not but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve..." He panted.

"I'll have to investigate that tonight..."

"Tonight?" He looked a little crestfallen.

"Waiting makes it even better, Captain," she whispered in his ear, her hot breath caressing the sensitive foldings.

"Oook..." He breathed deeply a few times to regain control over his, hm, functions to put it in Threepio's words. "What d'ya need?"

The Princess pressed her forehead against his and smiled. "You know me too well..."

"I'm learning to..."

"What would you say if we skip lunch and get off of work earlier..."

"Best proposal in weeks..."

"I'd like to invite Luke to dinner... Chewie too, of course. Something special."

"I knew there was a catch to it," Han sighed dramatically. "We've eaten together lots of times before, what's different now?"

"I'm not sure. It just is."

"I guess your breakfast with the kid went alright?"

"Hm-hm..." Her fingers brushed the short hairs that curled behind his ear.

"I can whip somethin' up... What time you wanna..."

"You're the best, Han Solo," She declared before kissing him deeply again.

" I know that..."

* * *

Han gulped down a glass of cool water. What he really needed was a cold shower and a shot of Whiren's Reserve, but if he wanted to keep his word to Leia he'd have to cope without either. Sometimes he suspected she really had too much fun teasing him like this and then making him wait.

Leia, fun? There was upon a time when he would had laughed hard if someone told him that the Princess knew the meaning of the word. Or that she could defy the laws of nature and turn into this little supernova every night, blasting him with her unbridled passion into a place from where there was no returning. Or from where he did not want to return.

Now that he knew her better he understood to which extension the time right after they met had been hard for the woman he loved. He had wasted so many chances being an arrogant fool. He had hurt her so much he sometimes wondered how she had still fallen in love with him. Risked everything for him.

Last night he had remembered perfectly with rare clarity when he had started to suspect that there could be something else hidden in Leia Organa under that cool and controlled exterior. Something... exciting. Something in her that was not completely devoted to the Alliance. Something worth staying a little longer and investigating further.

The episode involved some expensive candies and a double lifeday party at Delta Base. What had prompted him to buy that box that day at Abregado-Rae? Getting in the Princess' good graces? Sayin' goodbye with style? Making things for Luke a little more difficult? Did it really matter? It had been the best thousand credits spent in his life.

* * *

_Delta Base, a few years before._

It was near the time that he knew the Princess would leave the party, even if it was thrown in her honor as well as Luke's. She never stayed for long, just the amount of time some stupid protocol rule had decreed polite. So he sneaked out to get his gift out from where he had hidden it on the _Falcon_. His timing was perfect.

"Hey, Princess," Han shouted to the small figured walking quickly away from the improvised 'ball room'. "You running away from someone?" He teased, catching up to her with the advantage his long legs gave him.

"I'm not running away!" She turned around to face him, her cheeks slightly colored.

"You always leave around this time... Why, your Highnessness? Are you bored?"

"How dare you..." Her cheeks colored a little more. "I leave because the troops need to relax without any figures of authority around."

"How noble of you."

"Excuse me?"

"That's a nice little lie to cover that you weren't having fun..."

They had reached the lift that led to the level where the senior staff's quarters were located and he leaned against the wall strategically, blocking her access to the pad to call it.

"You don't have any idea of what I do for fun, Solo!"

"That's right, your Holiness," he conceded. He wriggled his eyebrows and plastered his trademark killing smirk on his face. "But I'd love to find out. So, what do you do for fun, sweetheart?" He asked huskily.

"You're drunk, leave me alone!" She hissed, her fists balled at her sides.

"I'm not drunk!" _Not yet_, he added silently. The night was still young, and his next scheduled flight, the last one that would get him out of this place forever was still two days away.

Suddenly she spoke in a much softer way. "Please, Han, move away, I'm tired..."

That was unexpected. _Please, Han_... An image of her speaking those same words in a much different context flashed through his mind. The Princess took advantage from his momentarily distraction to reach behind him for the calling pad. He moved automatically to block her again and was slightly surprised to notice the hardness in the back pocket of his trousers. Then he remembered what had prompted him to follow her.

"Captain Solo..." She warned angrily, crossing her arms on her chest and tapping her foot on the floor.

"I have somethin' for you, Princess," he said sliding the box wrapped in unremarkable, slightly creased brown flimsy out and offering it to her.

"What?"

"Happy lifeday, Leia." The name rolled smoothly on his tongue and he wondered briefly why he did not say it more often.

"Is this some kind of trick?"

"No trick, I promise," he replied quickly, giving her his best 'honest' look.

"OK," she took the package and added almost as an afterthought. "Thank you."

He shrugged, but his eyes scanned hungrily for her reaction as she reluctantly unwrapped the Tash'Tay Drops box.

"Oh, my..." The Princess gasped, dropping the flimsy carelessly. "It's beautiful..." she whispered, almost to herself. Her fingers caressed softly de flowers carved on the lid and then she flipped it over and checked expertly for the seals. "And it's untouched... Wonderful! I haven't seen one of these in..."

Han Solo realized she was not talking to him at all.

"Yes!" Under her deft manipulations, the seals opened with a hush and a strange odor escaped the loosened lid.

"What's that...?" Han mumbled, slightly worried, but Leia did not pay any attention to him.

Hurriedly she uncovered a second lid made of some thin metal that she tore with her nails to expose a couple dozen or maybe more droplets of a clear substance beneath. The smell was more intense now but she did seem to in fact enjoy it, as the Corellian realized when she lifted the container to her nose and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes.

"Ah, perfect..." She purred and taking one of the drops she plopped it into her mouth. Sliding blindly to the nearest wall, she leaned her back on it and breathed deeply again, sucking greedily on the candy.

The _Millenium Falcon'_s captain considered briefly if he should call the medics... Maybe those things were poisoned or laced with something... Surely simple candy could not produce... that reaction... in the coldest Princess in the Known Regions, right? Still the expression on her face... She did not look as if she were suffering at all, in fact she looked exactly as if... or at least as he imagined that she would look if... Lost in those thoughts, he forgot to breathe.

Leia opened her eyes and reddened deeply under Han Solo's astonished eyes. "Ooops, I'm sorry, I forgot my manners..." She apologized. "Would you like one?"

_Ooops? I'm sorry?_ What the hell where those things made from? But his policy had always been to try everything at least once so if the Princess was offering... With a nod he took one tiny bead and placed it on his tongue.

The taste was strong, herbal with a hint of something more spicy behind, tangy and sweet at the same time. He rolled it to his cheek to get a better grip on what was it made of but he had never tasted something quite like this before. It was not bad, but he really did not understand why she had made such a fuss of it... and then something exploded among his tastebuds, burning in his mouth and making his eyes water. "Sithspit...!" He coughed.

"It will go away in a minute..." She laughed. "It has a little droplet of pure Tay essence in the middle... I should have warned you..."

_No wonder she can drink Whiren's Reserve straight without even blinking_, he though. "This is... Hell..." He wiped his eyes. She was not even sweating but her eyes were glinting with mirth. There was a fire in her that he had never seen before unless she was giving a speech against the Empire. He suddenly had a strong temptation to find out how the Tay tasted from her lips. "How old were you when you first had one of these?" He asked instead.

"Twelve." Her eyelids dropped but she did not offer more information and he noticed with regret how the fire cooled before his own eyes. "Thanks for the candy, Captain," she said most regally. "Do you want another?"

"No, thanks. That stuff is strong, be careful with it," he joked as she replaced the outer lid.

"I will," she said with a small smile. "Now if you excuse me..."

"Of course, Princess," he moved aside and even called the lift for her. When the doors hissed open, she entered the small cabin and lifted her hand to press the number for her level.

"Han, how did you know that I liked those candies?"

The tall smuggler shrugged and kicked the floor a couple of times. "You just seemed the type..."

Leia Organa lifted an eyebrow and then dismissed the issue. "All right. Thank you again." The doors closed.

Han Solo contemplated the closed doors for a few seconds. "Happy lifeday, Leia," he repeated, smiling softly, and then he hooked his thumbs in his belt and sauntered back to the party.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

The perennial lights of the Coruscanti night traced the form of the woman sleeping next to him. He loved to watch her sleep.

Han had arrived late in the night cycle for the Senatorial District of the recently recovered Capital and had somehow managed to get into his and Leia's apartment without waking her. He knew that she had nevertheless registered his presence, maybe by some exotic Jedi sense, maybe through more common subconscious hints, because as soon as he had slipped into their bed Leia had snuggled against him, throwing an arm around his waist, whispering something very close to his name.

But she had not fully roused and that was ok by him. After so much war and so much death he just needed this to feel renewed. To feel her warm against him, to smell her hair, to discover that she preferred his old shirt to sleep in when he was not home instead of the designer sleeping gowns – among other things - that kept arriving without being asked for.

His fingers trailed lightly on her arm and he softly moved a few silky strands of hair away from her brow. She was so thin, he was sure she had lost at least another three kilos while he was away. He'll have to give Luke a piece of his mind as soon as he managed to lay his hands on the kid. He had promised to take good care of her and what had he done instead? Go gallivanting all over Coruscant looking for Jedi relics and lore. As if the 'Vader's twins' headlines had not been enough.

His fingers continued their gentle exploration along her back, drawing lazy circles around those adorable dimples that marked the end of it. Leia's lifeday was coming soon and he wanted to make it special, if he only knew how... He was not really good at it. Wookiees basically celebrated piling food on a table until the supports gave away and him... Well, those days were definitely in his past. Besides he knew her lifeday brought Leia painful memories about the family she had lost with Alderaan.

Before he noticed, his hand had slid – almost by its own will – beneath the shirt she wore.

"I was wondering how long you'd resist," a husky voice spoke amusedly from somewhere near his chest.

Then her lips moved down further and he could think no more.

* * *

The debriefings ended at last, miraculously in the middle of the afternoon so he lost no time and started his search for a proper lifeday gift for his Princess.

The search for Tash'Tay Drops on the holo-net had given him pages and pages of unrelated advertisement and bothersome sites about collectors and other stupid people. He had finally resourced to closely examine Leia's box's fine print, finding an address in the old quarter behind the Senate Chambers.

It was strange to be able to walk freely through Coruscant, even if a few people seemed to be weary of him – he guessed that twenty something years of Imperial martial law was reason enough to be weary of _any_ uniform.

He had to walk back when he realized he must have passed just in front the address he was looking for without seeing the candy store. Maybe it didn't exist anymore, he thought. Yep, there it was, a small shop with faded golden letters painted on the plastisteel of the curtained windows.

A chime sounded as he entered. "May I help you, sir?" A cheerful voice asked.

* * *

Twenty minutes later the counter was covered in boxes, bows and little sample trays for him to try.

"I've already told you, I don't wanna any Naboo cherry, creamed citric nor spiced chocolate candies... I just want a box of Tay Drops!" Han was loosing his temper quickly, was the girl completely stupid or Basic had changed so much here since the last time he'd been on the planet?

The chime sounded again and he turned in time to see a well known, black-dressed, blonde, young Tatooinian with a lightsaber dangling from his belt come in.

Both men studied each other for a second and Luke Skywalker smiled shyly. "Han..." He greeted. "It seems that you beat me to it... again."

The older man narrowed his eyes, wondering how the kid had gotten that particular bit of information. At last he decided it must have been a Jedi thing... or more probably a twin thing. "Not quite, kid, not quite," he growled. "How ya found this place?"

Luke shrugged. "Winter."

The former smuggler rolled his eyes. Typical farmboy. "Tash-Tay-Drops," he pronounced carefully to the salesgirl benefit. "In a tin box. That's all I want. Are you deaf or what?"

"But Sir," the young woman, who seemed hypnotized by the sudden realization of who her customers were, reddened violently. "We haven't manufactured that flavor in over three years... We don't sell those drops anymore."

"Then who does?"

"Nobody, sir. It was our secret recipe," she said frowning, and then lowered her voice to a whisper, "but nobody seemed to like them... The owner decided to stop doing them." She looked to Luke for help. "But all the others come in boxes too, Sir!"

"Damn!" The Corellian swore, not really paying attention to her. "What am I gonna do now?" He mumbled rubbing a hand over his face.

"These are nice," Luke said sweetly, sucking on the sample candy the girl had offered him from one of the trays.

"They're not Tay flavored..."

"I'm sure Leia likes other flavors too..."

"You don't understand, kid... She _really_ likes that Tay stuff..." His voice trailed off. There was no way he could explain that rare phenomenon to Leia's brother of all people. Han Solo sighed.

"Is there a problem, Treena?" A cultured voice called at the same time an old, frail-looking man entered coming from the back of the store.

"Mr. Tash, I..." The girl looked as if she wanted the mythic Great Dianoga to come out of her lair in the center of Coruscant and devour her.

"Don't worry, Treena, I'll take care of this." He dismissed her with a nod and proffered his hand to Han. "I'm Dronagh Tash, General Solo."

The Corellian cursed silently the nametag he was forced to wear with his uniform. He shook the offered hand and found it surprisingly strong and steady.

"Master Skywalker, welcome to my establishment," Mr. Tash greeted Luke afterwards. "You both are," he added, turning to the former smuggler again. His dark eyes smiled softly as he let the younger men study him openly. Then he spoke again. "If you're looking for what I suspect you're looking for, I think I may be of help to you... if you let me invite you a drink upstairs."

Intrigued, Han and Luke followed him to a private elevator in the back room.

* * *

A few minutes later they were comfortably installed with their beverages and a few choice sweets in the old man's sitting room. For a while they all just sipped in silence the expensive liquors.

"You're looking for a gift for a special lady if I'm not mistaken," Dronagh said at last.

Han stiffened but Luke only smiled softly and answered truthfully. "Yes, sir. For my sister, Princess Leia of Alderaan."

"Ah." Tash seemed satisfied with the Jedi's answer. "Her lifeday is coming soon."

"How you know that?" Han grumbled. Maybe the old geezer was one of those crazy...

"Prince Organa was a regular customer," he continued, ignoring Han's question. "A man of exquisite taste," he added proudly. "He used to come by and buy a box of Tay Drops each time he was about to go back to Alderaan. He said his daughter collected them. When she turned sixteen he ordered a special design made for her as a gift and then we had to do smaller replicas of it to give as souvenirs of her Coming-of-Age ball. One thousand and six hundred replicas, exactly, one for each guest. It seems that she was so happy with our work that the Prince kept ordering new designs made for her every year afterwards. They were all unique pieces of art. Of course this was also a fantastic opportunity for business..."

Han Solo downed his Corellian whiskey. "But why did you stop doing the Tay Drops?" He interrupted.

"I'm afraid true Tay is an acquired taste, General Solo, and an old fashioned one at that. Most people bought our candies just for the box and because word had spread that the Princess collected them. Still, as I said before, it was good for the business for a while and in fact it went so well that soon I decided things were too busy for me and it was time for my son to take full control. He never liked Tay but I thought..." The old man sighed. "Anyway, it was about that time that the Princess was elected Senator and shortly after she moved here she paid a visit to us. It was then that I discovered that she really enjoyed the Tay Drops beyond the pretty boxes, because she arranged with us for a quantity of them to be sent regularly to her place. We did as she asked for over a year and then..."

Dronagh Tash closed his eyes and shuddered, while the younger men bowed their heads in respect. It was a common reaction in the civil population, they still seemed very uncomfortable talking openly about what had happened to Alderaan. Collective guilt or something, someone had tried to explain to Han. After a few seconds the storeowner talked again.

"Everything Alderaanian or related to Alderaan became taboo or at least ill-seen. People stopped buying our products. After a while, my son decided it was better to discontinue the Tay candies. Nobody liked them anyway, it seemed."

Again the silence fell heavily.

"Still, a few months before..." Again the man shuddered. "Prince Organa had contacted me and asked for another special box for the Princess 20th lifeday. It was finished and paid for well in advance but... when the date came, she had disappeared and there was nowhere..."

Without another word, Tash stood up and opened a small cabinet, taking a polished wood case out of it. He placed it on a small table in front of his two guests.

"I think this belongs to the Princess," he said softly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

"Leia, are you ready?"

"In a second..."

Of course she had to work until last minute even on her lifeday. For once Han Solo was happy about it, for that gave everybody time enough to gather at the restaurant for the surprise party. It would be the first one the brother and sister would celebrate openly as such and all their friends had secretly plotted to make it really memorable. Lando and Chewie were taking care of Luke and both twins believed they were just having a quiet dinner with them plus Winter.

"Ya got somethin' for Luke at last?" That gift had been object of many debates between the couple in the past few days. In the end, Han had decided to get him some nifty upgrades for his X-wing just in case, without telling Leia a word.

"Of course," she answered, pulling a brand new, elegant looking gray datapad out from a drawer that she closed with an expert push of her hip.

"A datapad?" Han asked with dismay.

"Trust me," the Princess said and winked seductively at him. "You look hot tonight, General," she whispered while straightening the lapels of his new nerfleather jacket before brushing past him out of her office.

"Always, sweetheart," he whispered back, smiling crookedly.

* * *

Lando had been right about the place, it was elegant but not uptight, relaxed but with an excellent and discrete service. Not to mention that there was food and beverage enough to satisfy the most refined tastes – and the less as well.

The time for the presents had come. Luke gave Leia seeds of some rare plants to start an Alderaanian garden on Coruscant; Han the vouchers for two full leisure days – starting right after the party - with him at a secluded location.

Last of all, Leia presented Luke with the datapad. He looked a little confused, so she encouraged him. "Turn it on, Luke... Just turn it on..."

As the screen came to life, a small full body holo of Anakin Skywalker as he looked shortly after his knighting shone in the middle of the room. There was a voice speaking in the background about something regarding the Clone Wars and it was clear from the date in the corner that it was contemporary to them. A loud gasp came out of the crowd of friends around them. A few of the guests still remembered when that image had been a frequent view in every holo-newsfeed.

The young Jedi turned the datapad off after a few moments. The datapad was loaded to the top with files but there would be time later to peruse them. He breathed deeply and then cleared his throat, raising his hand to show that he wanted to speak to them all.

"I can't thank you enough for this, Leia," he said, his voice shaking but clear, "but I already have the best gift I could have ever wished for," he said placing his hands on her shoulders and locking his clear blue eyes in her dark chocolate ones. "My sister," Luke finished simply, wrapping her tightly in his arms as she buried her face in his chest and there was not a single dry eye in the room anymore.

Han took in the image of the light-haired man wearing dark clothes holding the dark haired woman in light clothes at first as if they were something alien to him, two strangers, nothing more. Then something else struck and he was briefly assaulted by the sounds and the smells of a certain Endor night, not that long ago, right before a battle. He fought them, recalling all the things he had lived and learnt since then. Finally all the confusing feelings went away, except for one.

Han Solo realized that he felt not jealous at all, but happy for them.

* * *

He maneuvered the air speeder through the traffic lanes, aiming for the higher, faster ones. That way the Manarai Resort would be less than an hour away and they'll still have a few hours of night ahead of them.

With a little worry Han thought of the wooden container sitting in the baggage compartment. He was still hesitant about which would be the right moment to give it to Leia. Luke and he had invited Mr. Tash to do it himself, but he had declined arguing that it was not his place to do so and, besides, it was too soon for him to go to a social gathering after his son's death.

The two friends had finally agreed that whatever moment they choose it should not be done in public and somehow Luke managed to leave the decision to him – and the responsibility.

He suddenly felt Leia snuggling against him and he freed his right hand from the controls to wrap his arm around her shoulders. "Tired?" He asked.

"A bit," she answered, stifling a yawn. Her cheek came to rest on his bicep and her hand was placed familiarly between his thighs.

"Ya want me to put this thing in autopilot?" Han drawled brushing her temple with his lips while keeping an eye on the lane.

"Not really..." Leia Organa whispered, closing her eyes. "I like to feel you flying..."

The Corellian felt as if he could go twice around Coruscant without stopping, and more.

* * *

Their entrance to the lush hotel was less thrilling though.

The manager on duty at the reception desk almost drooled when he realized that 'that Solo guy's' guest was the famous Alderaanian heir and ordered immediately the suite Han had reserved upgraded to the Imperial Rooftop Apartments.

Leia Organa paled and her eyes suddenly bore an intensity that made the sycophantic employee squirm in discomfort. "I'm sure what _General_ Solo has chosen will be perfectly fine for us." Turning to him, she placed a gentle hand on his upper arm. "I'll wait for you in the foyer."

A few moments later they were guided to a nice – if somewhat impersonal – suite with a railed veranda along the panoramic windows. Han sat somewhat dejectedly on the bed while attendants buzzed in and out of the suite bringing flowers and complimentary baskets. Leia thanked them all, well mannered as usual.

Finally the last of them left. The luggage they had brought was minimal and it was neatly placed in the bedroom, not opened by Han's express order.

"Well, here we are," the Princess sighed sitting by her lover.

"Yeah." He made no move toward her.

"It's lovely."

"You've been here before... right?"

"A couple of times... " Leia moved closer to him and laced her arm to his, pressing her cheek to his shoulder. "The view is breathtaking though. Or will be in the morning. Even better from this height than from the top."

"So I've been told." He answered dryly.

"What's wrong, Han?"

"Nothing."

"C'mon..." Almost forcefully she slipped into his arms and sat on his knees. "Tell me." She ordered softly.

"I wanted..."

He wanted to surprise her, to do something new with her. To treat her like the Princess she was. Somehow finding Leia's father gift had retrofired on him making him replay in his mind all the dingy cantinas he had taken her since they met, all the strange places they had made love in, starting with the _Falcon_'s cargo bay, for kriff sake. Ewok's huts, narrow spaceship's bunks, even a cave once, none of them were places for a Princess. Even their presently shared apartment had suddenly appeared in his eyes as dull and utilitarian, barely an improvement over _Home One_'s cabin.

He feared that the moment she lay her eyes on the beautiful Tash'Tay Drops' box, the contrast would be simply too strong.

"I wanted to make your lifeday really special..."

"Han..." Would he ever be convinced? Leia asked herself. She suspected only time would cure his doubts. She pressed her lips to his. There were no words to tell how much she loved him, but she tried anyway. "You, me, together..." Her mouth teased his softly, undemanding, patiently, but insistently. "That's special, because I love you more than anyhting in this galaxy," she added, the soft brushing of sensitive flesh over sensitive flesh slowly taking down his barriers until he was able to taste her.

With a low growl he rolled her on the bed, kissing her as if it were the first time, taking his time to explore and take to the limit every sensation and every variation until she lay breathless and trembling in his arms.

"Wow..." Princess Leia licked her lips and opened her eyes to find Solo's smirking face only a few centimeters from her own.

"Only wow?"

"Only wow, for now..." She laughed. "But I've got a feeling you still have things up your sleeve..."

"That a good feelin' or a bad feelin'?"

"A good feeling... A very good feeling indeed..."

He rolled himself off of her. "Then follow your feelings and go unpack your things," he challenged her with a wink.

Frowning she complied with his request, placing the bag next to him on the bed.

"I thought I had told Winter to send this one back to the designer," Leia observed coyly as she extracted something made of deep purple shimmersilk, matching lace and not much else from her luggage.

"You don't like it?"

"I do... a lot," she blushed. "But it's ridiculously expensive. This," her eyes roamed the luxurious suite and then her man's lanky frame extended before her, "would have been more than enough."

"Consider it part of _my_ lifeday present then," Han said with a wolfish grin. She was a little dense sometimes about not accepting 'free' stuff that could be viewed as bribing later, and he knew most of her salary as a Counselor ended on War Relief funds. On the other hand that gave him the pleasure of being able to pamper her every now and then. There was no better way of spending Jabba's money, anyway.

"You..." she waved her finger at him, torn between chastising him for the extravagance and kissing him senseless.

"I though it'd look beautiful on you," he added, suddenly serious.

Without letting go of the gown, the Princess lifted his chin and kissed him hungrily, undoing most of his clothes as she went, until he lay mostly undressed sprawled on the giant bed. She finished by chewing softly on his bottom lip and murmuring throatily "Don't go anywhere, nerfherder, I'll be right back," before disappearing in the main refresher.

He finished quickly what Leia's had started and with a satisfied sigh he spread himself on the mattress, pushing the discarded clothes and the forgotten luggage over the edge with his feet.

A muffled clunk sound remembered him of what else that bag contained besides clothes and toiletries. Shavit, he had almost forgotten the box. With regret he realized he could not delay the delivery anymore. He had to do it now, while it was still technically her lifeday – well, at least her lifeday celebration - or maybe the Princess would take offense at it.

Sighing again, he retrieved the case from the bag and his shorts from the floor and sat cross-legged on the bed, waiting for her.

He did not need to wait for long. Soon, she came out of that fresher, and gods help him, she was striking, a vision straight away from one of his wildest fantasies. Han swallowed dry and patted the mattress by him. "C'mere, sweetheart, I got somethin' else for you," he croaked before realizing how misguiding that sounded.

"Really?" She laughed, glancing nervously at the box but complying to his request nevertheless.

They had not needed so far anything else but their shared passion to satisfy each other but Han suddenly realized that she would do anything for him, no matter how humiliating she considered it. As she had, in fact, done in the past.

A sudden tenderness invaded him. "Relax, baby, it's nothin' of the kind..." She did, visibly, and he wondered if she knew how much he loved that particular blend of boldness and shyness, naughtiness and innocence, tough pride and compassion that she was.

"I have another gift for ya, but with one condition." He took a deep breath. "I don't want you to cry." _Because I don't think he woulda wanted you to_, he added silently.

Leia Organa looked up at him, confused.

"Promise me," he asked.

"Ok."

He placed the wooden box in her lap without a word and moved aside a little, giving her space.

* * *

"It was a stupid idea, " Han sighed into Leia's hair as he held her trembling form tightly. "Don't hold back if you need..."

"No... You're right," she answered through clenched teeth. "I don't want to cry over this. I really don't want to."

A gasp had escaped her lips when she had seen the beautiful Tash'Tay Drops' box over the pink shimmersilk cushioning. The lid was not carved, like the others Han had seen before, but a small sculpture was mounted over it. It was a complicated arrangement of flowers, leaves and fruits made of meshed wires that shone like silver but – according to the note Mr. Tash had included – had a durasteel core as well. The note also said that Bail Organa had selected it because it reminded him of Leia.

Han Solo could not but agree that the man undoubtedly knew something about his daughter even back then.

Without a word the Princess had sought his arms, clutching the box to her chest. She was shaking as if she were in Hoth in the middle of a snowstorm and he could feel her heaving every now and then. But her eyes remained dry.

"What's the funniest thing you remember about your old man?" Han asked suddenly.

"What?"

"What's the funniest thing you remember about him..." He repeated.

"I... I don't know..."

"Try."

She remained silent for a while, but the trembling subsided. "Cartoons," she said and he felt her finally relax. "He liked holo-cartoons..."

"What kind?"

"Maart and Hira?"

"The little weird...?

"Yep," she chuckled. "Sometimes I couldn't sleep at night and he made a big bowl of popped rekki with syrup and we ate all those and he let me watch the cartoons with him and we laughed our heads off..."

"That's disgusting..."

"What?"

"Syrup on the popped rekki..."

"What do _you_ had them with?"

"Brida sauce of course."

"Ewww... You're making that up!"

"Am not! Wanna bet?" He picked the intercom by the bed and selected the channel for room service.

"Han! It's three in the morning!"

"Shhhh... I need some popped rekki here as soon as possible... Yes, I said popped rekki... And some brida sauce and syrup too... Yes, BOTH of them... Thanks." He closed the link and smiled wickedly at the Princess. "Now they'll wonder for weeks what we need them for..."

"You're bad!" Leia shrieked, throwing a pillow at him.

* * *

The night turned out to be a memorable one. Not exactly like he had planned it, but memorable nonetheless. They had found a holo-channel that projected cartoons all day and night and ate rekki until they felt their stomachs would explode. In the end he had carried in his arms a burping and almost asleep Princess back to the bed with the first light of the day.

Bail Organa had not been mentioned again, but he might as well have been sitting with them on the couch for all practical purposes.

He had woken up to the sound of the fresher door closing and he was considering to follow the Princess there when there was a polite call on the suite's door. Damned service. For a moment he considered ignoring it, but decided against. Those people were insistent.

He did not regret it in the end. Leia had ordered a copious brunch with some of his favorite Corellian dishes among other things and his spirit climbed even higher when she exited the refresher and he noticed that she was wearing again the purple outfit. It looked wonderful in the sunlight even if she had modestly covered herself with the matching dressing gown.

She sat on his knees, slipping her arms around his neck, all softness and fresh soap scent. "I'm sorry about last night," she whispered, placing light kisses on his jaw.

"No need to apologize... " His lips found her throat, the food all ready half forgotten. "I had a great time..." He tugged at the gown's collar.

A comm unit chimed.

Han Solo groaned.

Loudly.

"It's Luke..." Leia sighed, gently disentangling herself from the former smuggler.

"How d'ya...? Aw, forget it!"

While the Princess went to answer the call, Han drowned his sorrows in spicy bantha stew. Well, at least the view was really breathtaking.

Yet it was not long before he felt her sliding behind him, her slim arms wrapping around his chest and his shoulder, her cheek pressing against his shoulderblade.

"Everything alright?" He asked around a mouthful of stew.

"He just wanted to know if I was all right..." Leia answered, her fingers playing softly with his chest hair.

Han cleaned the bottom of his bowl with a piece of bread. "Are you?"

Three heartbeats later the answer was breathed against his skin. "Yeah..."

"This stuff is very good, ain't you gonna eat something?"

"Maybe."

A lopsided grin broke through his face when he felt her hands moving up his arms and her teeth sinking softly on the nape of his neck. "I thought good girls always saved dessert for last..."

"I'm in the mood for having dessert first today."

"You sure?"

Renewed sensations around his hairline and behind his ear sent shivers down his spine and told him that she was quite determinate about it.

A grin tugged again at his lips but he controlled it. "Then I'll suggest the Tash'Tay Drops, Princess. You haven't tasted them yet."

"No, but..."

He stretched to retrieve the ornate container from a low table. "You're the expert," he said offering it to an intrigued Leia.

She slid herself to his side and he took the opportunity to pull her into his lap again while she released the seals. Carefully he placed the outer lid back on the table, the familiar scent of Tay all ready filling his nostrils.

Again, like years before, she broke the metal film with her fingernails and brought the box near her face to smell it. "Heavenly, isn't it?" She breathed.

"I could get used to it..."

This time she offered the first candy to him. He shook his head. "Maybe later."

The Princess raised a questioning brow.

"Because right now..." He took a translucent pearl between his thumb and forefinger.

"What?"

"I'm gonna watch you..." He wriggled his eyebrows at her.

Leia Organa's dark eyes dilated in surprise. "And after that?"

Han Solo smiled deviously. "Then I'm gonna kiss you..."

Her lips parted in anticipation.

**The End**


End file.
